


The Wolves Within Them

by ClockGuardian7



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Action & Romance, Alternate Universe, Consensual Sex, Dirty Thoughts, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Relationship(s), Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2020-03-26 18:14:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19011199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClockGuardian7/pseuds/ClockGuardian7
Summary: The darkness brought them there... to Hollow Bastion, to Axel, Ienzo, Ansem and every other resident in that world. Two young children... with a beastly side. Can they keep that side a secret? Can they keep their other side at bay? Can their relationship bloom into something more?And... can the forces of darkness take them away from each other?





	1. The Strays

**Author's Note:**

> This story is dedicated to a friend of mine from Amino. I may not be able to talk with him anymore but I hope that this story can bring some joy to him and all the other readers who take interest in this story.  
> This is my first post on AO3 so it might take a while to figure out how everything works (I'll do my best to edit everything until its readable and until it fits what is involved in the story).

Axel walked down the alleyways of Hollow Bastion casually whistling to himself. Being an 18-year-old guard with his weapons at his side he didn’t have much to fear as he strolled through various streets on his way home after a pretty peaceful day save for the occasional small heartless that appeared inside and outside of the castle. Things had been going well for the red-haired chakram-wielder since he became a guard for Ansem the Wise two months ago. He was now on good terms with a few of his fellow guardsmen including the gentle-giant Aeleus and the 10-year-old boy researcher Ienzo who often was seen with him, though he hardly said more than three or four words at a time.  


That said there were some odd people among them. The main researcher Even was one person he never saw himself getting close to… not that it was a requirement, but he couldn’t help but want to be seen positively by everyone he knew about. There was also another guard named Dilan who took his job WAY too seriously and often criticized him for trying to make small talk whenever they were told to patrol the town for any signs of trouble. Then there was Braig… unlike Even or Dilan this guy was REALLY friendly… almost to a creepy extent. It almost felt like he was always watching him, both on and off duty though he figured this might have something to do with Braig’s past… after all who or what could have taken that eye of his?  


As Axel took a stop at an intersection between the next alley and the street, a thought had reappeared in his mind to head to the market for some supplies. However, this thought was interrupted as he spotted a familiar black bug-like creature run down an alleyway.  


_‘Well… I can’t let that slide can I?’_ thought Axel as he gave chase to the heartless.  


After a few minutes of chasing, he managed to catch up to the heartless known as a “Shadow” and destroy it with a quick throw from one of his chakrams (that he summoned from his ‘backpack’ into his hand) but as he retrieved it, he looked up to see several more heartless surrounding something.  


“Whoa… a Neoshadow too huh? What’s that doing-?” he quickly bit his tongue as the Neoshadow, the obvious leader of this small pack of heartless, looked in Axel’s direction and turned its attention to him along with two of the five regular Shadow heartless that were surrounding… dogs? Well, puppies really. One stood out due to its golden fur that contrasted well with the dark blue and grey brick wall behind it and the other had dark black fur that made it hard to distinguish from the three remaining Shadows that surrounded them.  


Axel leapt backwards as the Neoshadow swiped its claw at him which made him whistle arrogantly as he summoned his second chakram and prepared to fight. “Coming after me huh? Well… I guess I would be much more appetizing than a pair of pups. Hope ya like your food spicy!”  


Axel swung his chakram at an impatient Shadow that had tried to jump him just as he used his magic to set both of his chakrams on fire, destroying the small scale monster with a quick swing from one and then flung his second flaming chakram at the Neoshadow before it could jump into a puddle of darkness that it had started to form at its feet. The attack made contact and flung the Neoshadow back a bit giving it a burn to accompany the pain from the blades. The remaining Shadow that accompanied the Neoshadow seemed to realize it was out of its league with fighting the red-haired guard and turned its attention back to the dogs only for it to realize that the blond dog had just bit and clawed the life out of one Shadow and was currently digging its teeth into the second one’s neck while the black dog had bitten into the third Shadow’s arm and was proceeding to swing it around before tossing it into a nearby set of trashcans.  


“Good work pups!” said Axel as he continued to slice away at the Neoshadow with his flaming chakrams making sure to swiftly avoid retaliation from the adult-sized heartless’ claws. In a few short minutes Axel had defeated the Neoshadow and the pups had not only finished each of their own fights and focus their attention on the lone remaining Shadow before Axel drove his two (now extinguished) chakrams through the last Shadow’s back ending its struggle.  


Axel dismissed his chakrams using magic and turned his attention to the two dogs in front of him. The black furred one seemed to be injured as it wobbled back and forth looking at Axel with sad blue eyes while the other one, though injured, made its way next to its injured companion and tried its best to support it, only for the black dog to fall to the ground. Axel stepped towards the dogs to help but stopped dead in his tracks when the blond dog started growling at him.  


“Whoa there boy… I just want to help your friend,” Axel stepped slowly towards the two dogs noticing that the blond dog had appeared to have been badly hurt but was still standing, “Never mind, looks like you both need help.”  


Axel stepped closer ignoring the blond dog’s weakening growls as he placed a hand on the dog’s head and scratched his ears. _‘What’s with you and picking up every stray puppy?’_ he remembered an old friend asking him once a long time ago, as he continued soothing the blond dog.  


“There now… lets get your friend to a… vet?” Axel stared at the black dog as her appearance changed before his eyes until the dog had been replaced by a small girl about maybe eight to ten years old with short black hair. “A werewolf?!”  


Axel looked at the blond dog whom looked like it too was on the verge of collapsing but after what felt like minutes Axel let out a sigh. “I see… that’s why you’re worried right? Don’t worry I’ll get her some help, I promise.”  


The blond werewolf seemed to be pleased by this statement… or perhaps he was too exhausted to continue to stand as he too changed back into its human form as he collapsed into Axel’s arms this one being a boy about the same age as the girl though with spikey blond hair. _‘Another kid… man its times like this where I-’_ Axel shook his head dismissing his thought as he picked up the two small children and proceeded to carry them to the castle, if anyone could help these kids, it was Ansem.  


Over the course of the next few days the boy and girl recovered from their injuries with help from Ansem and his castle’s staff, including Even whom examined them for any possible signs of harm done by the heartless (and fortunately didn’t seem to notice any signs of the two being lycanthropic), Aeleus kept an eye on the two whenever Axel needed to rest along with help from little Ienzo (whom wasn’t much older than the two giving the scared kids an extra sense of comfort when Axel wasn’t in the room with them) until they were able to introduce themselves as Roxas and Xion. As Axel guessed the two of them had come from another world, though the two of them didn’t seem to know if it was lost to the heartless or not (though no one had pressed the issue for their sake). With nowhere for them to go Ansem brought Axel, Roxas, Xion, Ienzo and Aeleus to his office to discuss where Xion and Roxas should live, but they just pointed at Axel.  


“Could we… stay… with him?” Xion asked as she held Roxas’ hand tightly looking down at the floor as she felt guilty for asking for more than they probably should have.  


Ansem looked at Axel who stood there surprised but quickly recovered as he rubbed the back of his head. “Well… I don’t mind keeping an eye on them…”  


The two kids ran over and hugged Axel making the red-haired guard blush, “Hey, hey you two! Settle down would ya?” he looked up to see Ansem chuckling with a grin as Aeleus looked at the heartwarming scene with a soft grin.  


“If you two need to know anything about Hollow Bastion, you can talk to me,” Ienzo said looking away from the trio’s tender moment.  


Ansem and Aeleus looked at the boy researcher stunned for a moment before Ansem patted his head with fatherly approval. “Yes, that would be very helpful for these two Ienzo. What say you Roxas and Xion?”  


“Thanks a lot sir!” Roxas said looking at Ienzo with a smile  


“Thank you… I’m sorry we’re being so much trouble.” Xion said as Ansem chuckled getting up out of his chair and patting both of them on the head with the same warm fatherly affection he had previously shown to Ienzo.  


“Think nothing of it. You two have clearly been through enough as it is. Take some time to recover and I hope you can enjoy this world.”  


With all that said, Roxas and Xion the two werewolves from another world had taken up residence in Axel’s home in Hollow Bastion.

_Ienzo Report: Werewolves: a species of human that can transform into a large wolf-like monster. Their transformation is usually associated with the power of the moon as well as their mental/emotional state. They are often feared by most (even across worlds) due to their superhuman strength, speed, stamina, hunting abilities and their unfortunate habit of giving into their dark desires, often becoming powerful heartless in the process._


	2. 8 Years Later-Xion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eight years after our two young werewolves were taken in by their guardian, Axel we get to follow Xion on her early morning day off from education and her part-time job.

_A young girl with short black hair hid behind a tree breathing heavily. She was confident that the two of them wouldn’t be able to find her for at least a minute and from the sounds that were drawing closer to her, it appeared she was right. The girl peeked from her hiding spot and watched the scene unfold._

_“Ha! Take this!” said a young and energetic blond boy of about 6 years old (the same age as her) as he tackled an older, yet strikingly similar-looking, boy to the ground, “Tag! You’re it Ven!”_

_After collapsing from the weight of the smaller boy, the older one laughed as a mischievous grin crossed his face “Well as long as we’re playing rough!”_

_The older boy reached into the younger boy’s pants and gave his underwear a powerful tug making the smaller boy squeal in pain._

_“Ow! H-hey stop! I’ll tell mom!”_

_“Mwa-ha-ha! What’s wrong little bro? Can’t take the pain like a big boy?”_

_“Ow, ow, ow! Uncle! I give up!” said the smaller boy as tears started forming in his eyes_

_The older boy, apparently the smaller one’s big brother, let go of his younger brother’s underwear and the two got up allowing his younger brother to adjust himself and wipe the tears from his face, “Jerk…”_

_The older boy ruffled his little brother’s hair, “That’s what happens when you get rough during a game of tag. Think of it as a lesson in picking your battles Roxas.”_

_“Giving me a wedgie is a lesson in picking fights? Don’t make up excuses to pick on me,” said Roxas as he looked away from his older brother, Ventus, with a pout as he noticed their spectator standing beside a tree laughing at his misfortune. “Xion! Don’t laugh! He was-”_

_“I saw the whole thing Roxy. You totally deserved that,” she said with a chuckle making the boy blush with frustration._

_After a few moments of Xion laughing at his younger brother’s embarrassing moment, Ventus quickly tagged Roxas on the shoulder, “No tag-backs Roxas, you know what that means Xion?”_

_Xion gulped as she slowly backed away from Roxas who grinned as he slowly walked towards her and then broke into a sprint as Xion started running from her friend of the same age as she heard Ventus loudly laughing at Xion’s newfound misfortune._

_“Curse-you-two-knuckleheads!” was all she could yell before Roxas tackled her to the ground and started tickling her despite her many declarations of ‘uncle’ …at least until she confessed to being a ‘dummyhead’ anyway._

Xion’s eyes fluttered open as she found herself awake in her bed. After a quick glance at the clock she noticed that it was nearly 7am, meaning Axel should be almost ready to leave for work. Feeling no desire to go back to sleep she decided to get up out of bed and stretched before thinking, _‘Well, I might as well see him off.’_

Xion slipped out of her pajamas and decided to wear a black tank-top, a purple short-sleeved button-up shirt (though she left it unbuttoned), a pair of blue jeans that she had purposefully (and sloppily) cut so that the usual long leggings stopped just around her kneecaps and decided to walk inside the house barefoot for the time being. Before she left her room though, she made sure to take a quick full body glance at herself in her mirror, striking a few random possess for the fun of it. During one pose where she turned away from the mirror and glanced back with her tongue sticking out (at her reflection) she briefly recalled the ‘dream’ she had just experienced, although it was actually more like a small flashback to her younger days goofing around with Roxas and his big brother Ventus.

 _‘Hmmm… wonder why I would think about… oh well’_ thought the teenage werewolf with a sigh, missing Roxas’ older brother… among many others but she shook her head, turned to face the mirror, took a deep breath and smiled at the mirror, ‘ _Think positive Xion. You’re a lucky girl with a lot of great people in your life. You need to keep smiling, just like your mother did. If you smile, then Roxas, Axel and everyone else will smile too, just like what your mother did.’_

Completely forgetting about the details of her dream, she pumped her fist with determination and left her room to see if she could catch Axel before he left for work. After quickly glancing around the house on her way to the kitchen she found Axel taking a sip of his coffee at the dinner table with an empty bowl in front of him as he glanced over and saw Xion approaching him. “Hey there. You up already?”

“Yeah I couldn’t fall back asleep.”

“Well if that’s how you feel,” Axel said taking one last sip of his coffee before taking his cup and empty bowl to the kitchen sink for a quick rinse before leaving it there in the sink, “Actually, could you and Roxas pick up some groceries for me? We’re getting a little low.”

Xion nodded with approval as she and Axel wrote down a list of various foods and other household necessities before he took a quick look at the clock, “Well, I’m sure you know anything else we might need.”

“Yeah don’t worry. We’ll get plenty of cake and ice cream to fill the fridge with,” the raven-haired girl said teasingly with a wink as the red-haired guard shook his head with a sigh but a quick smirk.

“If you want your teeth to fall out from all the cavities and pimples to cover your face like a bad case of the chicken pox and the chubby body-”

Xion blew a raspberry at him, “Ruin my fun, why don’t you?”

Axel chuckled as he grabbed his chakrams and put them in his magical pocket known as a ‘backpack,’ “You know you love me.”

“Do I?” she shot back as Axel looked at her with a brief glimpse of worry in his eyes as she quickly finished, “Yes. Yes, I do and so does Roxas.”

Axel chuckled and said his goodbye before heading off to work leaving Xion alone save for a sleeping Roxas in his room.

‘ _Well… what to do first? Should I make breakfast or wake Roxy?_ ’ Xion thought as she made her way to the kitchen to check on what they had left in the fridge, freezer and the cupboards. She noticed that they still had managed to hold onto one pack of bacon, a little over half of a large carton of eggs, cheese and some bread slices. _‘Looks like a bacon and eggs day for the two of us.’_

Xion took the bacon package out and made sure to let it defrost by putting the package in the microwave for a few minutes before she got to work on the eggs. While she waited, she went to the living room where she picked up a book she had been reading lately and continued where she left off. The story was a pretty standard one, an orphan and a former noble had to save the kingdom from an evil sorcerer as he plunged the land into darkness, the book even went so far as to include a few fictional versions of heartless like the ‘Soldier’ or the ‘Gargoyle’ heartless that constantly antagonized the two. Though she soon became surprised at the mention of a new and far more intimidating heartless in the book known as a ‘Defender’ which was a large human-like heartless that was covered in armor and had a beastlike face on the front of its shield that could breathe fire.

‘ _Yikes! Who comes up with these creatures? Real heartless are bad enough_ ,’ she thought remembering the brief encounters she and Roxas have had with the heartless over the years before placing a bookmark in the area she had just read and shut the book before the microwave began ringing and checked on the bacon which had now thawed, ‘ _Good! Eggs first and then I’ll get Roxas out of bed._ ’

Xion proceeded to make breakfast for the two of them. Given their shared beastly side, meat was an especially appealing food group that the two of them would constantly try to indulge themselves in, though they were just as human as anyone else… as Axel and Ienzo had told them repeatedly and as such they weren’t strangers to the other food groups (especially the frozen and sweet kind). After placing the cheesy omelets onto a large plate for later she proceeded to place the bacon on a plate with a grin. The smell of bacon would put Roxas in a good mood even if he had been wakened up with a bucketful of water thrown in his face (as she knew from experience) though this would’ve meant sacrificing her share in the bacon, so that option was out. Xion continued cooking wondering what Roxas would think if he saw her there cooking breakfast. She rarely cooked even though she had volunteered a few times in the past, but Axel seemed insistent on cooking most days and Roxas seemed determined to cook at times when Axel wasn’t able to cook, though he never told her why.

‘ _Still… I wonder if I look like mom when she cooked for me?_ ’ thought Xion as a light blush appeared on her face as she fantasized of a classic scene from a typical love story of her loving husband coming into the kitchen to see her cooking their morning meal, although whenever she imagined her ‘husband’ the only person she could ever think of fitting that role… was Roxas.

Xion shook the thought out of her head as she proceeded to switch out the, now crispy, bacon for new slabs of the pork though the image still remained in her head. His messy head of hair, his dreamy blue eyes still half open as he yawned while making his way to her and wrapping his arms around her waist as his face came closer to hers…

Xion slapped her face with both hands to stop the scene from continuing, this had apparently saved the bacon from getting overcooked as she quickly brought them off and placed the last few slabs on the hot and greasy pan. ‘ _These thoughts I’ve been having lately… should I… should I even try to see if he… No… I don’t want to make things weird between us. I don’t want to lose him, I CAN’T afford to lose him… but maybe if he… ohhh! Stop it Xion! It’s just hormones… maybe.’_

Xion sighed as she placed the last slabs of cooked bacon onto the plate and made sure to pop some bread into the toaster. By the time she returned it should have already popped out and be ready for consumption as she clapped her hands together excitedly and smiled at the thought of what she’d do next, “Now to wake Roxas… this’ll be fun.”

 

Ienzo Report: _Like the legends surrounding the keyblade, werewolves are also a very consistent factor that can be found in many (though not all) of the different worlds in the realm of light. Many worlds have grown fearful of them due to the chance that anyone among them could one day give into their dark desires be it their rage, greed or lust and become a heartless or possibly even bring them to the world like moths to a flame. As a result of these incidents becoming widespread knowledge, people would try to hunt down any werewolf that happened to make itself known, although this too has often led to several of the hunters becoming blinded by hatred or fear and end they up bringing more of the heartless to their world until the werewolf is either put down or possibly until the world itself falls into the darkness._


	3. 8 Years Later-Roxas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eight years later after Axel took our two young werewolves into his home we now get to follow Roxas on his day off from education, training and saving up money from his part-time job.

_“Firaga!” shouted a person in the distance as three small shadows ran through the dark woods away from the heat of the fire._ _The sounds of various forms of bladed weapons clashing with what sounded like fangs and claws along with the aftereffects of fire and thunder-based spells grew more distant as the three children ran away from the sounds of a wildfire forming amid the battle._

_“Come on, we have to go!” growled the older boy who looked no older than 12 as the spikey blond changed into the form of a blond wolf with some of his fur spiking between his ears._

_The two younger children of about eight or so followed suit as the crying eight-year-old girl with black hair changed into a small black wolf that could have been confused for a large puppy and the other boy whom looked strikingly similar to the twelve-year-old changed into another blond wolf albeit a similar size to the girl’s wolf form. As the two smaller wolves followed the older one away the smaller blond wolf looked at the girl before the sound of a tree falling in front of them brought the three of them to a grinding halt as a series of shadowy black monsters began appearing in large numbers. Most were bug-like and as small as the two younger wolves, but others were larger and more humanoid along with some floating orb monsters with twig-like limbs and a large gapping mouth with sharp teeth._

_The situation was awful as the bigger wolf growled at the monsters as they inched closer and closer as if they had found a meal laid out for them but with a snarl and a quick leap, the eldest wolf attacked the closest monster sinking its teeth into the throat of one of the NeoShadow heartless while using his hind legs to kick and scratch anything that tried to get close to it._

_The smaller blond wolf stayed close to the small black wolf as they bit and scratched at any of the Shadow heartless came close to them as their vision began to darken… or was the sky growing darker? The three wolves looked up as many of the heartless that were surrounding them began to flee as a loud series of thumping sounds came closer knocking over tree after tree until the three of them saw a giant humanoid heartless with tentaclelike hair that covered its face and a large heart-shaped hole in its chest began glowing as a series of dark-purple energy balls shot out, destroying more of the forest. The Darkside heartless looked down as the eldest blond wolf looked up at it and snarled before charging at it single handedly…_

“Wake up lazy butt!” shouted a familiar female voice as Roxas felt his sheets pulled off his sleeping form, causing him to open his eyes groggily as he felt a foot push the side of his ribs (dangerously close to his ticklish spot) a few times to keep him from falling back to sleep.

“Nooo… five… more minutes,” he said with a yawn as he sat up, shoved her foot aside and tried to bring the warm sheets back over his body.

“Oh well… I tried being _nice,_ ” said the familiar voice as Roxas suddenly felt his bed shake and before he could react, he felt a pair of delicate fingers tickling his sides making the formerly sleepy werewolf erupt into a fit of laughter as he tried desperately to escape from Xion’s playful wrath, “Mwa ha ha! Now you must pay for your lazy ways Roxas!”

Roxas struggled at the assault on his sides before grabbing her wrists and pulling her down onto the bed until he had pinned her beneath him on her stomach allowing him a chance to catch his breath. “Ahg! Xion! Why did you have to wake me up at… 8: 34 in the morning?! It’s our day off!”

Xion turned her head to look up at Roxas with a huge grin on her face, “Because I’m making breakfast and I want you to try it with me. Plus, Axel told me we need to go shopping today for supplies, so I need your help.”

Roxas groaned again and released Xion from his hold on her, allowing her to jump out of his bed with a light chuckle as he said with irritation at the loss of his precious sleep, “Just let me get changed… I’ll be there in a minute.”

“You’d better be… unless you want another round with the _tickle monster_.”

Roxas stuck out his tongue and threw his pillow at the girl, only for her to catch it in her hands with a giggle.

“Well, guess I’m keeping this until you get to the table!” she said with a grin as she stuck out her tongue at him playfully before skipping out of his room and closed the door behind her with a laugh.

Roxas stood up and stretched before he changed into casual clothes including blue jeans, a short sleeved shirt that was his usual style of fully white with black squares around the bottom of the shirt creating checkerboard patterns around where his stomach and waist were located and finally his X-shaped necklace that he tucked beneath said shirt as he thought, _‘Why does she always have to be so energetic, annoying and cute in the morning?’_

Roxas stood still as the last word of his mental description of his longtime friend sank into his mind before he shook the thought out of his head as he left his room with another yawn as he made his way to the dining room hoping that when Xion said she wanted him to ‘try’ breakfast with her she meant that she didn’t make anything new… fortunately the smell of eggs, toast and bacon quickly found its way into the spikey blonde’s nose, ‘ _Oh good! Crisis averted.’_ Roxas looked at the table where Xion was chowing on her share of omelets before looking up at him and pointing to a nearby chair where his pillow was sitting.

“Awww! And here I thought I’d have all the bacon to myself,” Xion said with a smirk as she inhaled a strip of bacon

“Liar,” Roxas shot back as he grabbed a glass of orange juice and loaded his plate with bacon, jelly toast and omelets loaded with cheese. The two ate in near silence for an hour before Roxas finally asked, “Okay, are you gonna’ tell me why you REALLY woke me up this early? The market doesn’t close until 8pm so we’re clearly not in a rush”

Xion sighed, “Well… I just wanted to talk… with you.”

“About what?”

“About… I don’t know… stuff?” Xion shrugged

Roxas looked at her confused, ‘ _Talk? About what? Did something happen recently?’_

Xion and Roxas sat there in silence for a few minutes before Xion took a deep breath and asked, “Have you felt any… urges lately?”

“Wha-? What?” Roxas blushed as his mind began racing with a hundred thoughts per second, ‘ _‘Urges?’ What does she mean by that?! Did… does she know about-?!’_

Xion began to tap her plate with her fork before twirling it lost in thought before saying “I mean do you ever feel… angry? Or sad or something else? Cause I’m always here if you need to get something off your chest.”

“Oh... Well… no… and if this because of that time with Leon. I told him I was sorry… I even sent him an apology gift!”

Xion held up her hands to calm her friend down, “Okay, okay. I was only worried is all.”

“Geeze… have some faith in me, would you?”

Xion scratched the back of her head. “You know I trust you more than anyone Roxy. I just don’t want anything to happen to you… okay?”

Roxas sighed and smiled at her, “I know Xi-Xi… was it because of Vanitus? Did he say something to you?”

“No, he’s got nothing to do with this. I’m just trying to keep you safe.”

_‘I should be the one keeping YOU safe,’_ thought Roxas as he scarfed down the last strip of bacon into his mouth and muttered, “Thanks, but I’m fine.”

“If you say so. Now let’s get ready!”

“What? But we have until-”

“I know… so let’s take care of it now so that we can have the whole day for ourselves!” Xion exclaimed with her usual energetic smile and a charming (and yet dorky) fist raised in the air as if she was some sort of hero rallying others for a quest before picking up her plate and utensils and brought them into the kitchen for cleaning.

Roxas sighed with a grin as he followed her to the sink with his used plate and utensils as he responded with a simple, “Fine.”

The two set their dishes in the sink alongside the other dirty dishes (including Axel’s) as Roxas washed and rinsed Xion dried and put them away in their respective cupboard or otherwise. After a few minutes of cleaning Xion started humming as she continued her task as she stood on her toes in order to place Axel’s, now clean, coffee mug onto the shelf with the other coffee mugs. However, as Roxas continued washing and rinsing he noticed out of the corner of his eye as Xion started struggling to place one of the plates onto the top shelf in a cupboard, giving Roxas’ eyes enough time to wander downwards from her hands to her back until they finally stopped at her butt, all snug in her badly cut jeans leaving just enough for the teen’s imagination to wander to more spicy places.

Roxas felt his face grow warm and quickly pulled his attention back to the dishes and hoped that he wasn’t blushing enough for Xion to notice. “Why don’t you get a chair or something?”

“Hey, I got it up there without it breaking, didn’t I? Anyway, we’ve only got- Roxas?”

“Yeah?”

“Is something wrong? You look a little funny.”

“Oh no.” Roxas said sarcastically, “Guess I’d better stay home and get some sleep then. Better not get germs all over the groceries.”

Xion scoffed and took the last wet dish out of his hand and then lightly jabbed him in the ribs, “Nice try their Roxy, but you’re coming with me.” Xion started to dry the last plate as Roxas began washing the various forks then she started to sniffle in a mock crying tone, “You wouldn’t want to force a meek little lady like myself to do all of that heavy lifting would you?”

“Says the part-time librarian who can lift twice as much as the head librarian,” Roxas shot back as he stuck his tongue out at her (which she returned as she placed the last and now fully dried plate on its respective shelf), “But, no. I’ll help you anyway… besides I want to see what you have planned after we get everything.”

“Yeah… planned… right.” Xion stated as she started drying the forks one-by-one and placed them in the drawer

Roxas sighed, “No plan, huh?”

“Let’s just wing it. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Plenty, but we’ll probably figure something out after we get back.”

“That’s the spirit! Oh! And make sure to bring your sword too.”

“Of course I’m gonna bring ‘Fang.’ I wasn’t born yesterday.”

“Just checking, I’ve gotta get some socks too.”

“Be sure to bring ‘ _Thorn,_ ’” Roxas said in a mocking tone as the raven-haired girl skipped off to her room to retrieve her last pieces of clothing and her bladed magic staff.

“Har-de-har!” she shot back as he heard her door open from down the nearby hall

Roxas shook his head as he walked back to his room down the same hallway His room was at the very end of the hall, just across from Axel’s bedroom but it was right beside Xion’s bedroom as well. Roxas liked being placed between the two of them. Ever since they started living with Axel, Roxas had always slept in this very room right across from Axel with Xion as his roommate, often building blanket forts and mock-camping using flashlights and other objects to replicate their old home, but that was only for about two years before Axel insisted that Xion have her own room. The two were reluctant at first but Axel had told them that their rooms would be right beside each other as he had emptied out the other room (apparently it was a ‘study room’ even though no ‘studying’ had taken place there to Roxas’ knowledge) and brought Xion’s bed and other things she would want in from their former shared room. For two years he didn’t know why Axel had separated the two young werewolves but apparently it was a part of growing up and sad as it was… Axel was wise to separate them when he did.

‘ _Calm down Roxas. You’ve lived with her for nearly nine years… and never made a move… and she never had a boyfriend… is she even interested in boys? No! no, I just need to keep her safe. I don’t need to be her mate… but-’_

“Hey Roxas! Are you ready yet?!” Xion shouted from her room as he heard a door close in the hall

“Yeah, I got it!” he shouted quickly grabbing Fang his customized mythril backsword and, with a flick of his wrist, sent it into his magical backpack in case they ran into any heartless during the day.

“Well, what are you standing around for?” Xion said as she stood in his doorway with her usual grin as she gave her staff a quick playful twirl before placing it into her backpack via magic.

Roxas rolled his eyes with a grin as he followed her out the door and off to the market.

 

 

Ienzo Report: _Hollow Bastion:_ _Formerly known as the town of Radiant Garden. Known for its close ties to light and the pure water flowing amid vast canyons of rock and crystal. It has sadly fallen into current condition due to the spread of darkness, those that control it and the heartless that follow said darkness. However, its citizens and especially its leader, Ansem the Wise, refuse to let the town fall into the void and as such have dedicated much of their time and effort into fighting the darkness and researching ways to help protect the town and each individual from anything that could bring further destruction to it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So three chapters in and I gotta say I'm enjoying writing this story (it feels so good to be back to writing fanfiction again) but I gotta ask if you guys, girls and anything else like what you're reading so far?  
> I want to improve my writing (especially when it comes to describing clothing and small stuff like that... or is that really important for a story like this?) and I'd love to hear any of your thoughts about the story so far (comments give me motivation is what I'm saying)  
> Thank you for all the kudos everyone! I hope my story will continue to entertain you!
> 
> (Side note: Xion's magic staff is based on the staff Donald uses in KH2 when you defeat Lexaues but it has a different design. However I can't really picture it or describe it that well. If their are any artists or just writers who would like to help me with coming up with an idea please feel free to leave a comment)


	4. An Invisible Advancement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's preparing something. Preparing to fight, preparing to create, preparing to find and preparing to advance. Axel, Ienzo, Roxas and Xion all have their own ways of doing this. Lets read along and find out how.

Despite the frequent signs of destruction that were shown scattered throughout the streets and alleyways, the town of Hollow Bastion was a grand place. The frequent scars of battle were both the side effect of the heartless with their unpredictable nature and those who fought against the heartless, either for protection or for profit. Despite this constant threat that put many people on edge, including himself from time to time, Axel couldn’t help but appreciate the rugged yet still imposing appearance of the town both when he walked from his home to the castle and when he stood at the main gate along with Aeleus on the other side of the main entrance. Standing guard at the front entrance was the least desired position among all the members of the guard, an important one, but none-the-less a commonly despised one due to the lack of movement and the all too real possibility that a powerful heartless might appear at any time, although Aeleus and Dilan DID always seem to be the most willing to stand and wait at the entrance. Axel stood at attention on the left side of the castle’s main entrance with Aeleus silently standing on the right. As always Axel couldn’t help but get lost in thought looking off into the distance wondering what Roxas and Xion were up to.

_‘Just a week left until Roxas’ birthday… Better check with Cid later,’_ thought the red-haired guard as he took a quick glance at Aeleus who stood practically motionless as always. _‘Still… I’m sure the two of them won’t mind if I show up a little late tonight.’_ Axel cleared his throat, “Say Aeleus, after our shift you want to head to the pub? I need to check up on something quick, but the place is just around the block.”

Aeleus remained nearly motionless as he took a breath, “…Can’t. I’ve got to work tomorrow. Try Dilan.”

Axel shrugged and looked out over the town again with a sigh, “We never seem to talk much. I wanted to know what it was like when Ienzo grew up on you.”

Aeleus looked at Axel as the large muscular guard’s eyes widened as he realized what Axel was going through, “Roxas’ birthday is approaching, correct?”

“Yeah… man it feels like yesterday when those two just showed up on my doorstep and now… heh.” Axel chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head, “Me, Ienzo and Xion have a special gift planned for him… but don’t tell him that okay?”

Aeleus smirked and nodded as he and Axel resumed to be vigilant at their position in case any heartless showed up.

**~Meanwhile inside Ansem’s Castle~**

Even continued to type away on the castle’s main computer, “Hmmm… it appears that the device may require more energy than we originally intended… Ienzo how fares the mainframe?”

Ienzo spoke through an open communication channel on the computer, “It appears we may need more material. The tools themselves are rather durable but if it’s to work properly we should try using chips made from other materials as well as examine the core to prevent any problems.”

“Hmmm… perhaps we should try Electrum? Or do you think Orichalcum would work better?” Ansem the Wise suggested while looking at the data Ienzo sent the two of them.

_‘Only Lord Ansem could casually suggest two of the most expensive ores so casually… though if this device comes through…’_ thought Even as the two scientists discussed what materials might work best and Ansem told Ienzo to return to the computer room.

Ienzo walked at a brisk pace back to the two while looking at the list of various materials that might suffice for the project at hand as he twirled a pen in his hand. _‘If only it were easier to obtain these materials… but then again what has ever been easy when it comes to science?’_ Ienzo looked over the list of highly suggested materials that might make their project function at full capacity. Aside from the two ridiculously rare materials that Master Ansem had mentioned the list consisted of nothing but the highest grade of synthesis materials from Betwixt Crystals to Wellspring Crystals though one material, brought a sigh to Ienzo. _‘I hope Cid finishes the project soon… I’d hate to delay Roxas’ gift… even if this device IS more important by comparison.’_

Ienzo returned to the two of them and discussed what they should do moving forward and ultimately decided to call in Cid for his expertise on synthesis materials as well as one of their main providers of said materials; Scrooge McDuck.

**~Hollow Bastion:** **Bailey~**

Roxas and Xion made their way down the steps towards one of the town’s exits. In order to protect it citizens, most of the area around the town had a large stone wall to keep it safe from the heartless that had thrived in the canyons outside in large swarms. However, the wall was incapable of keeping all the heartless out, but it did reduce the numbers down to a much more manageable and smaller group due to their natural ability to manifest within the town to wreak havoc. Despite this overwhelming threat to its citizens, the canyons also contained valuable materials and sources of freshwater all over, so several openings had been allowed to remain open for anyone with permission to venture out of the town and find anything of value.

Roxas and Xion approached one of these exits and noticed who had been placed on duty that day, the sharp-shooter Braig. Roxas rolled his eyes and gave a light sigh, Braig was by no means a bad person but his penchant for giving everyone nicknames (though some were admittedly amusing… provided you weren’t the one whose nickname he was using when he spoke) and his smug practically-all-knowing manner made it easy to be annoyed rather quickly.

“Well, well, well if it isn’t Poppet and Kiddo! How’s Flamsilocks doing?” he said with a wave to the two as they pulled their licenses out of their respective pockets and showed them to him. Xion’s card describing her status as a ‘Red Mage’ and Roxas’ status being a ‘Swordsman’ with the Thunder affinity icon on the corner of the card. With barely a glance at the two licenses, he told them to pass but before they could take one step out of the town. “Oh, hold on. There’s one thing I should mention to you two.”

“Huh?” the two said in unison looking at the gunman as he looked at Roxas rather sternly.

“Vanitus is out there in the canyons with Leon as his buddy. Now I don’t wanna start anything but Roxas, can I count on you to keep your cool?”

“Wha-!? You too?! Guys come on! That was years ago! I sent Leon an apology gift for the love of… Uhg!” Roxas growled looking back to Xion and then to Braig who held up his hands to try to remedy the situation.

“Okay, okay. I get it… just behave you two, got it? You may be under Axel’s care but that doesn’t mean you two can do what you like.”

Xion put a hand on Roxas shoulder to comfort him and looked at Braig with her usual grin, “Don’t worry. I’ll be there to keep him on his leash. You trust me, right?”

Braig chuckled “Sure, Poppet. Make sure you keep your boyfriend pacified… especially if you run into the two of them.” Roxas and Xion lightly blushed at the mention of the two of them being a couple but they both laughed it off and went on their way out of the town without so much as a denial at Braig’s accusation (figuring he’d find some way to make the situation more awkward for the two of them) but also holding onto the idea that the other might ask why they didn’t deny Braig’s accusation. Sadly, that question would never come as they made their way down one of the canyon routes and after ten minutes of walking the two of them happened to cross paths with the summoner Yuna and her boyfriend Tidus.

“Well look at that! Hey, Roxas! Xion! How are you two holding up?” Tidus asked with a cheerful grin as the two groups met up and made small talk. Tidus and Yuna were a few years older than Roxas and Xion, the same age as Ienzo and Vanitus in fact. As such, they had already graduated from school and had become part-time workers in the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee with Tidus becoming a gummie-ship pilot and Yuna becoming a famous singer on Hollow Bastion’s most popular radio station. However, due to these occupations requiring a LOT of focus on their part, not to mention their current romantic situation that had a good chunk of the town jealous (of whom was debatable from person to person) the two of them were far too busy to spend much, if any, time with their younger friends like they once could. The two groups small talk consisted of discussing the current state of the heartless outside of the town, nothing too noteworthy to mention as the couple had encountered a pair of Neoshadows and plenty of regular Shadows and Darkballs to keep anyone busy. Roxas was relieved as any word of an Invisible or especially a Darkside would have had him worried enough to request if their older friends would accompany them into the canyon.

“We’re just here to kill some time and find some material. Did you guys find any Damascus lying around?” Xion asked with her usual optimistic grin causing Roxas’ eyes to sparkle with excitement at the mention of the rare material which caused Xion’s grin to change ever so slightly but only Yuna had managed to notice the younger girl’s slight change in expression. “Oh please, like Damascus is just lying around for anyone to pick up. You think we wouldn’t have grabbed every pebble of that if we found it?” Tidus said with a sigh recalling his job collecting material while piloting his gummie ship.

“Yeah…” Roxas sighed but then asked with slight enthusiasm, “But what about the heartless? Did they have anything special on them?” Tidus grinned and summoned a Hungry Crystal out of his backpack and showed it to Roxas who’s eyes re-lit with joy as the two boys to talk about materials that they might be able to find. This allowed Yuna a perfect chance to quietly pull Xion away from the two boys as their conversation over synthesis ores continued without so much as a question from the two blonds at their strange behavior.

“Okay Xion, spill it. Are you still crushing on Roxas?”

Xion’s eyes widened with fear as she shoved Yuna further away from the boys and quickly looked back to make sure they hadn’t overheard the summoner’s question, as she whispered angrily, “Keep your voice down! What if they heard you?!”

Yuna shook her head as she looked her younger friend in the eye. “You two have been joined at the hip for years. Honestly, I’m surprised one of you hasn’t tried anything yet. You’re nearly seventeen and neither of you have even tried dating, not even with other people.”

Xion took a deep breath and checked to make sure that the boys were still talking before she stated, “I… do still… think I might have a crush on him-”

“You ‘think?’” Yuna questioned with a raised eyebrow Xion looked at her pleadingly as she whispered frustratedly.

“Yes! I still have a crush on him! But I’m worried that he’ll say ‘no’ and then home will get really awkward and then I’ll die of humiliation!”

“Roxas would never do that. You know that as well as I do.” Xion mumbled something unintelligible, trying to find the words to deny her claim but she couldn’t since the dark-haired girl knew the singer was right. Yuna sighed as she could tell the younger girl needed more of a push in the right direction, “Tidus tells me almost everything he does at the gym. According to him, Roxas may have a thing for girl’s with… _short hair._ ”

Xion’s eyes widened, “Th-that doesn’t mean-”

“And Garnet told me that Roxas always runs to you whenever he needs to be healed instead of her or even Aerith.”

“I’m certain that he-” “And of course, we can’t forget about both that time with Leon and that one field trip where the whole class fought an Invisible together?”

Xion covered her now light-red face and shook her head as the memory of Roxas carrying her back to Hollow Bastion after their class had an unfortunate encounter with one of the most feared species of heartless, “No… no no no…”

“I think he’s just as shy as you are. Perhaps you two need a little help?”

“Please Yuna… I just… I just need a little more time.” “How much time?” Xion couldn’t answer as she bit her lip and looked at Roxas again as Tidus showed Roxas some of the material that he and Yuna had obtained during their exploring as he whispered something into the younger boy’s ear that made Roxas deliver a playfully light punch to his shoulder (she knew it was light because if Roxas was serious Tidus most likely wouldn’t be laughing right now). “I… don’t-”

Yuna whispered into Xion’s ear, “If it needs to be more private, I can recommend a secret place me and Tidus like to visit.” Xion stood there thinking for a few seconds and nodded as Yuna whispered about a cave in the southwestern area of the canyons with a small creek of water flowing out of its left side making it hard to miss especially if they followed a certain river upwards until they noticed said small creek spilling its contents into the river. Meanwhile, Roxas and Tidus seemed to have finally noticed that the girls had wandered away from them.

“Hey! What are you two doing over there?!” Tidus shouted as the two of them walked over to where the girls were standing Xion hiding her face from sight.

“Just making some girl talk,” Yuna said with a casual pat on the younger girl’s shoulder as she took Tidus by the hand and led him back towards town, “Right now, we should head back to town. I just remembered that I need to work on a new song and Tidus promised to help.”

"What? But babe-”

“Come on Tidus! Those Wellspring Gems were a great find for the day! I think we can stop here,” Yuna stated as she continued to tug her boyfriend’s arm until the two of them were out of sight.

“Yeesh… I never knew Yuna could be so forceful. Tidus looked like he was being dragged away by Dilan or maybe even Aeleus… actually no, not Aeleus, he would’ve been flung over her shoulder if she was pulling him away like Aeleus.” Roxas stated with a chuckle at the thought. Xion lightly laughed as she looked away from Roxas and the two werewolves stood there for a moment “So… I was distracted by Tidus showing me some Wellspring Gems and a Hungry Crystal… is everything okay?”

“Yeah… just… awkward subjects.”

“Oh…” Roxas said as he looked away not wanting to press any buttons with his longtime friend. Xion forced a grin as she looked at Roxas, “She DID tell me about a place that she and Tidus had found. Do you wanna check it out?”

Roxas grinned, “Of course! Maybe we’ll get something nice along the way.”

“Well… it’s kind of far away so…” Xion leaned towards Roxas as she whispered, “Perhaps we should try doing that?”

Roxas eyes widened as he looked around and placed a hand to his ear as he attempted to heighten his hearing as much as he could in his current form, “Well… I don’t hear anyone nearby but… it’s still pretty early for us to try that.” “I think we can make it. We just need to keep our eyes, ears and noses open for anyone in the canyons. Leon and Vanitus shouldn’t be too difficult to sniff out from all the rocks and stuff.” Roxas scoffed, “Yeah, it’d be pretty hard to not smell Vanitus out since he’s a piece of-”

“Roxas!” Xion scolded as Roxas grumbled a series of small curses under his breath at Vanitus’ expense making the short-haired girl sigh, “What am I gonna do with you two?”

“Well I can think of a few things you could do to Vanitus, especially with your magic ski-” Roxas stopped talking the second Xion started glaring at him.

“Let’s just go already. We’ll move on top of the canyon and make a straight-line dash towards the river.” Xion said as she started lightly stretching “Which is?” “It’s a cave that has a small creek coming out of the left side. Apparently, the cave has some tougher heartless in it but considering Tidus and Yuna were there a few hours ago, we should be fine.”

_‘A few hours? What in the world were those two… maybe it’s better not to think about it,’_ Roxas thought as he patted Xion’s shoulder, “All right, lead the way Xi-Xi.”

Xion nodded and started running towards a small pile of rocks with Roxas following close behind. The two of them morphed into their wolf-forms, Xion being a large black wolf about the size of a pony although she retained human-like hands, though covered in fur and claws, while Roxas changed into a slightly larger blond wolf with his usual spiked hair reduced to a few significantly smaller spikes between his wolf ears. The two werewolves used their enhanced speed, strength and claws to jump on top of the rocks and then to a small ledge and then to the top part of the canyon keeping them both out of sight of anything in the maze-like canyons as Xion led Roxas towards the location Yuna had mentioned to her. The dash took nearly half-an-hour as Xion occasionally had to slow down to peek over the cliffside to check various geographical and man-made landmarks to make sure the two werewolves were heading in the right direction before they finally found the river Yuna had mentioned and followed it until they found a small creek pouring its tiny amount into the river. The two wolves were fortunate that the creek itself went into a much tighter canyon than any of the others they had frequented allowing them to remain in their beast forms as they followed the creek upstream until they finally came to a small clearing where the cave with the creek coming out of the entrance’s left side was located. After sniffing the air and listening closely for any signs of company, the two found a nearby pile of rocks to jump down onto and quickly change back into their human forms.

“Looks like I won the race this time Roxas,” Xion said with a grin as she summoned her magic staff from her backpack

“What? ‘Race?’ What race? You were leading the way to a cave!”

“Sounds like a perfect excuse for second place, Mr. Silver-medal,” she said as she playfully stuck out her tongue at him and cast a spell to summon a few small spheres of light that floated around her, “Shall we explore?”

“I… Yeah,” Roxas said with a sigh as he summoned his mithril sword, “You always gotta find some way to get under my skin, don’t you?”

“You make the funniest faces whenever you get confused… so ‘yes.’ I definitely have to.” She said with a chuckle as she led him into the cave while Roxas followed rolling his eyes at her playful antics. The two of them walked through the cave for a few minutes with only the sounds of the small creek breaking any silence between them. After a few minutes of following the raven-haired girl and doing his best to keep his eyes firmly focused above Xion’s shoulders, she finally spoke,

“So Roxas.”

“Y-yeah?” Roxas stuttered

“We’ve lived here a long time, huh?”

“Uhhh… yeah?”

“It’s… been nice… despite how we got here,” Xion said as her head hung low

“Yeah…” Roxas answered recalling the heartless’ invasion of their old world before forcing a smile on his face when he thought about everything they had done after arriving in Hollow Bastion, “but you’re still right. It’s been great living with Axel and hanging out with everyone else.”

“Yeah… so Rox-”

“Look out!” Roxas said pulling her back as a large blue sword suddenly swung down in front of her, crashing down into the ground where she had previously stood and a black humanoid heartless appeared out of the shadows and picked up the sword. Roxas held Xion close to his chest as they slid backwards and pointed his sword at her attacker, “Seriously? An Invisible just HAD to be in here?!”

Xion gasped at the sight but was temporarily stunned at Roxas’ arm wrapped tightly around her. She quickly collected herself and broke away from him as she readied her staff for a fight using her magic and her werewolf senses to check the dark cave for any other heartless. “It doesn’t look like it has any friends nearby. I think we can take it.”

Roxas grinned and took a stance with his sword, “The two of us vs that thing… maybe we should go easy on it.” Roxas charged at the monster and swung his sword swiftly towards its neck but the Invisible managed to avoid any major damage by trying to block the attack with his sword. Roxas had still managed to nick the heartless’ shoulder but he was still confident about his attack as he jumped backward and watched as the heartless suddenly was attacked by a sudden barrage of large ice chunks from Xion’s Blizzara spell. The heartless let out a yell and turned its attention to Xion but Roxas pointed the tip of his sword at him and suddenly dashed faster than before delivering a series of stabs using a technique called ‘Sonic Blade.’

“Ha ha! Thought we were easy pickings didn’t ya?!” Roxas boasted with a grin after his technique’s energy ran out forcing him to jump back further but this time the Invisible chased after him and once again was attacked from behind. Although this time, Xion had used the light-element spell known as ‘Pearl’ for extra-effective damage against the creature of darkness. Things were going remarkably well for the two werewolves so far with Roxas even managing to deliver a punch to the monster’s chest to throw it off balance (even though the punch did much less damage then his sword would have). The Invisible let out a shriek and turned to charge at Xion deciding now that if it took her down then Roxas would soon follow. It swung its sword from the left side but Xion brought up Thorn and blocked the attack blade-to-blade. Roxas let out an angry yell as he dashed towards the Invisible angrier than ever… only to get attacked by a Darkball that had apparently also been somewhere in the cave sinking its teeth into Roxas’ right arm.

“ROXAS!” Xion shouted as Roxas punched the round heartless making its grip on his side weaken and fly slightly backwards as another Darkball appeared beside the other one.

“Xion be careful! That bastard must’ve called for help with that roar.”

“Obviously!” she shouted as she did a full 360-degree spin on her feet as she swung Thorn into the Invisible side. She missed hitting her target, but she managed to land a cut on the arm just above its’ wrist distracting it long enough for her to make a full dash towards Roxas ready to heal the now-bleeding swordsman. “Get over here and let me-!”

“Behind you!” Roxas shouted as he held his left palm out towards her, “Thundara!” A trio of powerful lightning bolts seemed to strike down from just behind Xion where the Invisible had previously raised its sword to attack her from behind and all three had landed on the creature.

_‘Damn it! Not again,’_ Xion thought as the Invisible began to seemingly fade away into the darkness, _‘Why am I so useless-wait a second.’_ Xion looked back to Roxas as he used the skill ‘Ars Arcanum’ to attack the two Darkballs with minimum success as the monsters floated away with only a few light hits from the tip of his sword but with the two newer monsters distracted Xion glanced back to notice that the Invisible’s blue sword was currently wedged into the ground. _‘That’s not a material drop… which can only mean that it’s not gone!’_ Xion used her magic to bring the orbs of light over Roxas’ head as he continued swinging due to Ars Arcanum’s required activation limit. Roxas had managed to strike a more satisfying blow on one of the Darkballs just as the skill’s effect had run out of time leaving Roxas frozen in place smirking at the two heavily damaged monsters as they floated backwards no doubt out of fear of the swordsman as far as Roxas was thinking… unfortunately that wasn’t entirely the case as a dark shadowy ring had surrounded the stunned swordsman and began to quickly close in on him. _‘Shit! The Invisible isn’t-wha?!’_ thought Roxas as he felt a familiar hand shove him onto the ground as he heard Xion shout a powerful spell

“FAITH!” Xion shouted at the top of her lungs as she raised her staff high over her head, a small orb of light seemed to appear out of her chest that burst like a dropped piece of glass and out of that broken orb, a pillar of light appeared that rapidly expanded until it struck the two Darkballs destroying them almost instantly and even seemed to affect the dark ring around them as the shadows seemed to flicker from the power of the light. Unfortunately the ring still remained and in her haste Xion had put herself in the exact center of the dark ring that finished closing in on her and engulfed her in dark magic making her shriek in pain and fall down onto her hands and knees, not unconscious but clearly hurt and mentally fatigued from her previous spell.

Roxas stared at his longtime friend and shouted her name at the top of his lungs then he looked around in the darkness that was starting to get darker due to Xion’s current state making her light orbs flicker on and off as her mental focus waned. When Roxas’ eye finally found a now critically damaged Invisible reforming as it picked up its sword Roxas jumped to his feet and ran at the monster, tossed his sword in front of his face as he shapeshifted into his wolf form and caught the sword in his teeth before delivering a slash to the heartless’ chest with incredible speed and power. Despite this attack added onto the damage from Xion’s previous powerful light spell the Invisible had managed to just barely hold on as Roxas quickly turned around, dropped his sword and used his human-beast claws to grab hold of the heartless and began repeatedly biting into its face until the creature finally began to fade away into the darkness leaving some rare materials behind. Roxas ignored the materials, turned around, changed back into human form and ran over to Xion who had pulled out an ether from her backpack and was currently drinking the substance to recover her MP and get the lights back to working properly.

Roxas helped Xion stand up and brought her over to the cave wall where she could lean against to keep herself balanced as she recovered. He was happy she wasn’t too badly injured, but she WAS injured causing his emotions to boil over into anger, “That-was-reckless-Xion!”

“Oh? And it would have been better if you took that magic attack?!” Xion shot back taking out a potion and drinking its contents to heal herself, “Tell me again Roxas; who’s the mage here?!”

Roxas growled, “That doesn’t matter! We were fighting an Invisible! If there were more heartless-”

“Then we would retreat and try to find help! Or maybe we’ fight them off together like we just did!” She said as she sourly took out another potion and drank it making the pain from her injuries almost completely numb and shrink down to minuscule bruises. Roxas growled again and punched the cave wall leaving a small hole in the rock and then growled again as he pulled his now bruised hand out of the wall. Roxas used his uninjured hand to reach into his backpack for his own potion but suddenly he felt a familiar green light engulf him as Xion casted Cura on him.

“Wha-?! Hey!” Roxas shouted as he saw that she didn’t have Thorn out as the healing green light faded from her hand and she grabbed hold of the wall to keep herself from falling over, “Xion you need to recover your energy! Sheesh, why do you always have to-”

“What are you talking about? Aren’t you the one who always runs to me when you’re hurt?”

Roxas felt his mouth grow dry, “W-well you’re always there.”

“So has Aerith… and she’s the best White Mage in the whole town.” Xion subtly brought her light orbs closer Roxas couldn’t think of a comeback so he took another sip of his potion and looked off into the cave hoping she’d drop the subject before he said something stupid, “Hey! I’m talking to you, Rucksack!” Xion growled using an old nickname of his that she only used whenever she was angry or when she was messing with him.

Roxas growled while avoiding eye contact. “Do you think I’m useless? Is that why you keep trying to protect me?”

That got under Roxas’ skin. He NEVER thought she was anything but amazing, sometimes annoying or even scary at… certain times but never useless. “What are you talking about?! How could you possibly think that?”

“Every time I come home with so much as a paper cut from the library you get worried that I was attacked.” “There are heartless everywhere!” “Then there was that time I tried cooking for you and Axel when we were eleven.”

“It was great! I told you that, Axel told you that!” Roxas fibbed recalling the nearly black charcoal she had made when she tried cooking for the first time. “You both said it through tears AND you both got sick the next day remember? Do you think I’m dumb too?”

Roxas stared at her with his mouth hung open in shock. “You? Dumb? Xion… you’re a brilliant mage with some of the best grades at the school! Ienzo has praised you, countless times on your schoolwork! I’ve praised you on that and countless other things!”

“Then why do you keep trying to play bodyguard with me?! I’m not your damn daughter!” she said with her eyes starting to water from yelling at him

“Because I love you! You beautiful, talented-” Roxas stopped himself from going any further. This wasn’t how he was supposed to confess to her. He was supposed to do it saving her from a heartless without getting a scratch on him, or at their graduation where he’d take her to a romantic dinner or something else… ANYTHING else. The two werewolves sat there in silence feeling both of their faces grow hot as Xion started crying. _‘Oh great work you idiot! Now you made her cry! That’s perfect! As if this wasn’t bad enough. Now she definitely thinks you’re a creep and home is gonna get stupidly awkward now that she knows… what if she tells Axel?! Oh no… he’s gonna neuter me if she tells him that especially if she’s still crying when we get back!’_ Roxas thought as he buried his blushing face into his hands before trying to salavage whatever friendship they had left, “Look Xion, I’m sorry about what I said, let’s just forget everything I did here and I’ll get you some ice cream.”

Xion grabbed his sleeve without looking at him. Was this a ‘yes?’ Did his bribe make any attempt at keeping their friendship together? “Did you mean it? That you… love me? Not like a sister-kind of love?”

Roxas swallowed. He knew lying to her was a bad idea right now, so he managed to mutter a confession, “y-yeah… I… love you… I’ve been crushing on you for… a long time.”

“I see…” Xion said before looking at him as her tears kept falling… but she was smiling this time. “That’s great because I love you too.”

Roxas and Xion sat there in near silence while looking at each other’s expressions for a long time before the two of them started chuckling until the two of them burst out into laughter. “How long have you felt this way?” Roxas asked wiping away his new founded tears of joy from her confession.

“Probably since that time in the library… way back in our first year when I was eleven. The time when you were reading up on magic and you kept growling cause you didn’t understand what you were reading until you finally tossed the book into a shelf and… well I think you remember it. Yuna said I couldn’t stop starring at you and asked if I had a crush on you and… she wasn’t wrong. Although maybe I was crushing on you before that… I think.” Xion stated with an awkward smile and another chuckle as Roxas grinned recalling how much trouble he had gotten in for that with Aerith and Axel especially after the book was revealed to have a damaged cover and he had knocked over a potted plant that had been placed on the top of the very bookshelf he threw it at. “Now it’s your turn lover boy.”

Roxas stopped chuckling and swallowed, “Uhhh… well… I guess.” Xion started bouncing up and down excitedly with a huge grin on her face as she watched her crush struggle to mentally collect himself. Roxas could think of a dozen times he had been crushing on her easily, he could imagine even more times he simply wanted her to be safe but the first? That was difficult for him to recall… especially when he wanted to keep his thoughts on all the times he saw her in a swimsuit to himself. “I guess their was that time back in grade school when you were the queen in the play? Uhhh… no. Maybe not that far back.” Xion remembered the play where she had managed to win a minor role as the Queen in a play while Roxas had won the even less prominent role as guard #2. Since the play was about a princess and a prince saving their respective kingdoms from heartless and the evil sorcerer who controlled them, the two young werewolves spent more time playing in their costumes than actually rehearsing their lines… or ‘line’ in Roxas’ case... though he did make a cute guard. “Uhhh… maybe at some point after that incident with Leon? I saw you were hurt and before I knew it, I broke his nose with that training sword.” Roxas said with a blush recalling the time just before they had entered their current school. “After Axel grounded me and you started avoiding me.”

“You were grounded! Axel said he’d ground me too if I tried to make it better for you.” Recalling Axel’s no-nonsense look when he ordered her to stay away from Roxas’ room for the week he was grounded.

“Uhhh… fair enough, but still. During the first few days I started panicking wondering, ‘what if I hurt her next?’ I worried about hurting Axel and Ienzo too of course, but… it was always coming back to you. I couldn’t stand the thought of you being scared or hurt especially by me.” Roxas tightened his fists as he thought about all the times she had been hurt fighting heartless especially their most recent encounter.

“Hey… I’m a big girl now. I can handle myself… I can certainly take you down if I wanted.” She said as she playfully elbowed his ribs.

“Oh really?” he said back with a cocky grin.

“Yeah really… all I have to do is this.” Before Roxas could say anything, she put her lips to his as the two of them nervously broke their normal boundaries with each other. Roxas felt like he had been frozen but at the same time filled to the brim with energy and Xion thought time had stopped around her before her lack of air came to her and caused the two of them to separate so they could catch their breath.

“So… are we… you know? A thing now?” he asked with a blush.

“Y-yeah… if you want,” said Xion as her face felt hotter Roxas lightly chuckled until he had started laughing loudly and picked Xion up in a huge hug before spinning her around happily. “H-hey! Hold on Roxas! I’m getting dizzy! Don’t make me freeze you!”

Roxas stopped spinning but looked down with such a radiant smile that she couldn’t help but blush at the mere sight of it. “Sorry Xion. It’s just… I’m so happy right now! I want to run through the whole canyon shouting it out… except maybe not cause that’s embarrassing to think about.” Roxas blushed and looked away with an awkward chuckle.

Xion couldn’t help but laugh at his corny thought process. He was a total dork… but damn if she didn’t love that side of him so she managed to plant a peck on his cheek making her new boyfriend grin even wider. “Maybe you can do that another time… but for now we have something else we need to do first.”

“Oh? And what’s that?”

“We need to tell Axel… about us.”

Silence filled the cave once again as Roxas joyful hug lessened in grip but remained wrapped around her as he nervously swallowed. “Oh… yeah.”

_Ienzo Report: The Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee is a faction of my Master, Ansem the Wise’s, royal guard. They were founded by Squall Leonheart (or Leon as he prefers to be called) and Aerith Gainsborough. The group are essentially part-time guards that take up extra work elsewhere. Normally this might be considered a bad thing due to the threat of the heartless and the wielders of darkness but due to the need for extra work all over Hollow Bastion, it helps keep the town functioning. One such example being Leon and Aerith training future warriors and mages respectively or Yuna’s singing providing the town an extra layer of moral._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAN! This chapter took a LOT out of me getting it written. So much stuff going on between two weddings, Halloween and Thanksgiving... does that mean this counts as a (late) Thanksgiving gift? So many awkward momments when writing this... I feel like I put them out of character but at the same time... did I? Please tell me in a comment if I did. Along with any other mistakes or improvements I could take. I REALLY want to make this story the best it can be.  
> All that said... I love what I did with their sudden and awkward confession at the end. Cause now we can get to the fun shipping stuff with these two dorks instead of dealing with a "Will they? Won't they?" situation (no offense to anyone that writes or likes that kind of story).


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